Lecture 4 - Political Parties - 2012-02-01.doc

Lecture 4Political Parties20120201Political Parties Can they be reformedFunction of Political PartiesControl Parliament oParty bloc voting provides an effective check against the executiveRecruit peopletrain politicians and Brings groups into the political systemoWorking immigrant groups eg Irish need to feel they can be incorporated into the political systemoThese groups then join partiesoAlternative is revolutionPatronage relates to above pointoPolitics is crucially about creating jobsoBy serving the political party the party looks after youoHistorically political parties would allow for various immigrant groups to then get jobs eg become appointed the postmaster general of BellvilleoQuestion Has political patronage gone too farDemocratic theory says yesSomething fundamentally uneasy about getting a job on the primary basis of loyaltyYou also have a policy increasingly driven by group interestsGet out the voteoSomeones got to canvas go door to door advertise etcHold government to account